As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Modern information handling systems include many different types of consumer and commercial electronic devices such as, for example, personal computers (e.g., desktops or laptops), tablet computers, mobile devices (e.g., personal digital assistants (PDAs) or smart phones), User Equipments (UEs), corporate (or small business) server and data processing systems, and the like. These devices may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. In addition to supporting data processing and computing functionalities, almost all of these modern devices also offer wireless communication capabilities for voice, picture, video, and/or other data communication.
A touchscreen computing device, such as a tablet or a 2-in-1 device, may receive inputs from an active stylus (also referred to as an “active pen”), which includes electronic components and allows users to write directly onto the touch-screen surface of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display associated with the computing device. An active pen may be used for digital note-taking, electronic document annotation, on-screen digital drawing or painting, as well as for accurate object selection and scrolling. When used in conjunction with handwriting recognition software, the active pen's handwritten input can be converted to digital text, stored in a digital document, and edited in a text or drawing application. Active pen protocols govern the design and functionality of active pens. Two such protocols include the Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) and the Wacom AES (Active Electrostatic) Protocol. Active pen protocols have been continuing to evolve to support additional functionalities.
With current active pen protocols, only one active stylus can be paired with a device at a time. Thus, current active pen technologies do not support dual active pens on a single device. For example, two users, each having their own active pen, are currently unable to interact with the same device. In addition, for a device that has dual display devices, the active pen is paired to a single display device and cannot, after providing input on a first display device, continue to provide input on a second display device. Thus, current active pen technologies do not support a single pen providing input to two (or more) display devices associated with the same computing device.